During the middle period of the Bronze Age, a few decades before the volcano of
the island of Thera erupted, many events were taking place in mainland Greece.
There was a significant increase of the population and numerous cities began to
emerge. These cities were spread all over the mainland but shared a similar
culture, the Mycenaean. The civilization was given this name in modern times by
the archaeologist Eric Schliemann who excavated many cities including Mycenae.
However they probably referred to themselves as Achaeans or Daneans. These
are names that other civilizations and also Homer used to refer to them. The
Mycenaeans were a people with a complex administrative system and a warlike
culture. Their most prominent city was called Mycenae, built on top of a hill
with huge fortifications watching over a rich plain.
Other notable cities were Pylos, Tiryns Athens and Iolcos. Nearly all of these
big cities were encircled by walls. With the exception of Pylos. Inside these
walls was the palace were the king and the nobility lived.
The structure of the Mycenaean society is quite significant. At the top was the
King or Wanax as the Mycenaeans called him. The King had total control
over the economic, religious and warfare activities. Below him was the Lawagetas,
who we presume was the leader of the army. Then there were the priests or
telestai, the hequetes, aristocrats and important leaders of the army, the
Kerosiwa, a council of elders that advised the King and below them followed
other administrative ranks. The Damo were the common people and at the lowest rank
were the Doru or slaves. The slaves were either bought or captured in wars and
raids. Although this form of slavery was nothing like that of the slave system of
classical Greece. Many of these slaves were women who worked in the cloth
industry and some nobles had domestic slaves both male and female. The common
people like farmers, merchants and metal workers lived outside the palace walls
in small houses but would enter the citadel in times of an attack for
protection. These people mainly lived like the Minoan common folk, they
specialized in a specific profession, mostly farming, paid taxes to the
government with goods, and the palace would either export these goods for
trade or store them and redistribute them to the people in case of famines.
The main difference with the Minoans is that the Mycenaeans had to do military
service.
A writing system was formed to keep records of food, jewelry, weapons, building
expenses and all other economic affairs of the palace. This system is now called
Linear B, a descendant of the Linear A of the Minoans. Linear B has been
deciphered and it is a primary source of what we know about the Mycenaeans today.
It is also the first known Greek written language, the proto-Greek, with
thousands of words of Greek origin. The Minoans influenced the Mycenaean culture
greatly, this is evident from the palace architecture, the Mycenaean frescoes,
pottery, the various symbols they used and the development of their scripts.
Slowly though the Mycenaean culture developed its own character. The palaces
were different from the Minoan ones They were smaller and instead of a big open
space there was the Megaron, a hall with a circular hearth in the centre, where the
King would welcome guests, hold meetings and public events as well as animal
sacrifices. Another exclusive feature of the Mycenaean palaces was the huge
construction of surrounding walls. These walls would rise up to 12 metres tall
and were constructed with towers and passageways for the soldiers. The
Mycenaean life was centered around warfare, this is evident from the
fortifications, army conscription, war details on Linear B tablets and the
number of weapons found.
But the Mycenaeans were not only waging wars, they also traded. Their economy was in
fact built on trade. Exchanging goods with other major Mediterranean powers
with a network growing even larger in later years.
Mycenaean objects have been found even in remote places like Ireland,England,
France, Germany and the Black Sea.
Mycenaean faith consisted of many gods and goddesses. Many clay figurines of a
fertility goddess have been found but these figures were clearly different from
the Minoan ones. Several names of deities were written on the Linear B tablets.
Some of them are indeed the earliest written mention of the ancient Greek
pantheon. Like Zeus, Poseidon, Ares, Athena, Artemis, Dionysus and others. There were
also names of deities that are uknown to us. With their military and cultural power
they would conquer the Aegean and parts of Anatolia, establishing colonies which
helped them further develop their trade. Their presence in Asia Minor brought
them in conflict with the Hittites, the empire of whom covered much of Anatolia.
The Hittites claimed that the Mycenaeans encouraged rebellions in their vassal-cities
and we know that their relationship was bitter at times. The
Hittite king however acknowledged the king of Mycenae as an equal, calling him
a brother. A title that the kings of the great powers of the bronze age used to
call each other. A vassal city of the Hittites was called Wilusa, which many
historians believe that it is in fact Troy and that this is proof that the
famous Trojan War took place, along with the ruins of the city that Eric
Schliemann excavated. We will further discuss this issue in the next video. The
Mycenaeans thrived for 400 years as a major power in the Mediterranean but the
events that followed would bring the Mycenaean civilization to its knees
along with nearly all of the major contemporary powers of the Bronze Age.